Knights and Spies
by jessseri
Summary: Justin's cousin Kate became the worst influence in Justin's life and it all started on the day he learned that Santa Claus wasn't real. For CP Coulter's Dalton and inspired by Justin's weebly fact 45 He has a cousin who's a spy . A person is either a knight or a spy. Knights always tell the truth, but spies may tell the truth or lie as they see fit.


**Inspired by Justin's weebly fact 45 (He has a 26 year old cousin who's a spy). Justin Bancroft belongs to CP Coulter, author of Dalton.**

_A person is either a __knight__or a __spy__. Knights always tell the truth, but spies may tell the truth or lie as they see fit._

* * *

Justin's parents would never think to blame Kate for the juvenile delinquent Justin had become. Neither would Justin, until he sat in a cold warehouse receiving the judgment of potential employers and an old story hit him in the gut. Or, well, the old story is one of the things that hit him in the gut. Another thing was a crow bar.

But the memory hit harder. He was six or so and it was Christmastime. All Justin really wanted was some posters of King Arthur - he loved King Arthur. Arthur was a knight, and knights were everything he wanted to be. They were _honorable_ and that meant they didn't lie and they protected the people that needed them.

His parents were in the kitchen talking, and in the hopes that they were talking about holiday plans and surprises for he and Laura, Justin pushed the door open a crack to listen in.

And then he heard it. "I don't want to dress up again this year; can't we just tell Justin that Santa isn't real?" his dad whined to the frowning of his wife and the soft laughter of his brother's daughter, Kate.

Justin couldn't stop himself and, forgetting entirely that he had been eavesdropping, let the door open all the way and exclaimed, "What do you mean Santa's not real?"

The adults turned to him at once and his mom coughed in panic. She should say something. What should she say?

But Kate reached her arm out and shushed her before his mother had the chance. "I'll take this."

Leading him into the next room and planting herself down on the floor, cross legged in front of him, Kate sighed. "Justin, do you know what a lie is?"

"Of course I know what a lie is," he pouted quietly. "Lying is dishonorable."

She smiled softly at his little temper and big vocabulary. "Dishonorable?"

"Yea, it means you shouldn't do it 'cause it's not right."

"Justin, you shouldn't call your parents dishonorable. Don't you love your parents?"

He nodded meekly. "But why would they lie to me?"

"Well, what are some reasons people lie?"

"I heard Uncle Martin say - to keep people you love from getting hurt."

Keeping in mind her audience, Kate avoided rolling her eyes. "Does knowing that Santa isn't real hurt you?"

"Yes," Justin answered quickly.

Kate snorted. "But if you had always known, would that hurt?"

Justin took more time to consider this. Finally he concluded, "no?"

"So why else do people lie?"

He didn't know. "I don't know."

"Can I tell you a secret, Justin?" Kate leaned in and spoke softly. "Sometimes people don't lie for a good reason. Sometimes people just lie."

"But..."

He looked defeated, and while Kate had thought that being straightforward was a good approach, she suddenly regretted it. "Adults tell children that Santa is real because _their_ parents told them the same thing and they remember being happy about it. They want you to be as happy as they were."

"Were they this sad when they found out he was fake? Do they want me to be as sad as they were too?"

"No." Kate moved to pull her cousin in for a hug. "No, they don't want you to be sad."

Justin leaned in to the hug and stayed quiet for a moment. Cousin Kate was going to university next year; she was really smart and he should remember everything she said. But eventually, because he'd felt compelled to, he said, "Knights don't tell lies. Knights are good and they help people and they don't tell lies."

Kate pulled back only enough to meet her cousin's eyes. "Oh yea?"

"I want to be a knight," he declared proudly. "But what if I need to lie?"

She ruffled his hair and smiled. "Well, maybe you could be a spy. Spies can choose to tell lies if they need to for their missions."

He mulled this over. "But do spies help people?"

"Of course they help people. James Bond is a good guy, right?"

Even though his obsession with King Arthur could never ever be replaced with _James Bond_, it soothed him enough for the moment and he'd hopped up content again with his world.

And that's just it. Justin had never thought that Kate was a bad influence in his life. She'd been a good student and was always open with him in a way that no one else ever was. Her whole approach to the discussion of lies had been decidedly _honest_ and she'd made him feel better. In that winter, she had taught him that the world was full of knights and spies and he _knew _that she was a knight. And as he dug around in the streets and earned his name - not his given one, but his own nonetheless - as a mercenary, he'd _known_ that he was becoming a spy.

Brutal and cold, no one trusted Justin. After all, the spy could pick and choose when to tell lies, and who were his bosses to know which was which. Unfortunately, that meant that despite the highest recommendations from all of his previous employers, none of his previous employers wanted to be his _current_ employer.

That was why Justin sat in a large warehouse at night, waiting to see if these people would offer him a job - something to occupy his time. He had introduced himself - professionally, that is - and hadn't waited for them to return the favor. He didn't want to know who they were and they didn't want to tell him. Actually, he was pretty sure these were government officials hiring him to do something they couldn't be bothered to do themselves. Not that he was going to make any guesses. It was better he didn't know. But amidst their discussions he did catch one name. _Sophie._

_Sophie_ would know what to think of the boy. _Sophie_ should make the decision. Just wait until _Sophie_ arrived. And then Sophie had arrived and she had had long brown hair and soft freckles and slender arms and she had looked _just like Kate_. She was Kate.

She was his cousin Kate and she looked right at him and said, "Is this the boy then?"

She had looked him over, glanced down at his files, and never flinched for a second. He was so shocked that he let his guard slip and he had sat there stupidly, replaying the Christmas story instead of listening to the questions they were asking him.

All his life Justin had _assured_ himself that she was a knight and he was a spy. But the betrayal that hit him in the gut - with the story and the crowbar - as he saw this woman consorting with the people who were here to hire him told him he had been all wrong. _She _was the spy, and that didn't make him a knight, but his guilt sure did.


End file.
